Coming in 2026: My Beloved Other, a graphic memoir by Nick Abadzis and Angela Watson

Sixteen years in the making from conception to final art, publisher 23rd Street Books has revealed the cover of My Beloved Other, a memoir of love, race and optimism in a time of denial, by Eisner award-winning British writer and artist Nick Abadzis and his wife, mental health therapist Angela Watson.

My Beloved Other, a graphic memoir by Nick Abadzis and Angela Watson

The book – Nick calls it a book a book, because it’s not really a “graphic novel” as such, rather a memoir that uses the language of comics to tell the story – is a timely account of the far-reaching impact of racism in today’s society, as seen through the lens of one couple’s interracial marriage.

Nick Abadzis. Photo: Nadia Abadzis
Nick Abadzis. Photo: Nadia Abadzis

downthetubes readers wil know Nick Abadzis as an award-winning author who’s been creating books, magazines, comics, including Doctor Who strips, and stories for both adults and children for more than forty years, including the Eisner Award winning graphic novel, Laika.

He’s been published in the United States by Condé Nast, First Second, Marvel Comics, Titan Comics, DC Comics, in the UK by the BBC, various national newspapers including The Guardian, The Times and more.

He also works as an editorial consultant for publishing and a corporate graphic recorder.

Angela Watson was born and raised in Birmingham, to Jamaican immigrants. With a career dedicated to the nonprofit sector in London and New York City, she spent years helping others before transitioning to her current role as a mental health therapist helping clients to overcome personal obstacles.

Angela Watson. Photo: Nick Abadzis
Angela Watson. Photo: Nick Abadzis

Her diverse background and passion for mental health inform her writing, which explores themes of identity, culture, and personal growth. 

My Beloved Other marks Angela’s first collaboration, blending her unique experiences with a desire to connect deeply with readers. Her work invites reflection on mental wellbeing and the complexities of migration. 

My Beloved Other, due for release in the United States on 8th August 2026, asks: Where does the concept of “the other” come from? And who truly benefits when we allow fear of the other to steer our society?

Through charming banter and illuminating anecdotes from their personal lives, writer-artist Nick Abadzis and psychotherapist Angela Watson chronicle their nearly forty-year interracial relationship, their respective family histories, and their ongoing experiences with anti-Black racism in Britain and America, from the overt racial taunts of childhood bullies to the more subtle biases of the adult workplace.

In the midst of a dangerous political backlash that threatens to derail decades – if not centuries – of movement towards a more equitable and diverse world, My Beloved Other puts questions of race front and centre, and turns a critical eye to the systems that seek to exploit our differences. Above all else, it challenges readers to do what can sometimes feel impossible: keep hope alive for a future where difference is embraced as a source of unity, not division.

Writing on his official blog, Nick reveals My Beloved Other was first commissioned in 2008 under the title Skin Trouble.

“It was, in reality, two separate projects – a book about the lives of Angela’s father and my father, and their different experiences when they came to the UK as immigrants in the late 1950s.

“Anyone who knows me knows that I was also always talking about an ‘anecdotal book about racism and what it’s like being in a biracial or mixed race relationship.’ Back in the early 2000s, this was almost a joke, a project to find a way of making light of the occasional ‘microaggressions’ or biases we’d encounter, a kind of fun riff on ‘light racism.’ That approach seems so naïve now.”

After many abortive half-finished drafts over a decade, Nick asked his editor, the founder and editorial director at First Second Mark Siegel, if he could bring Angela aboard as co-writer, feeling a back-and-forth memoir structure would help him get around what had become something of a creative impasse. Sixteen years in the making from conception to final art, My Beloved Other is the result.

Nick will be revealing more behind the making of My Beloved Other on his blog and social media channels – currently, BlueSky and Instagram, with, possibly, new, separate feeds for the book itself happening quite soon.

Follow him now, and, perhaps, preorder the book (AmazonUK Affiliate Link), as this will help boost its visibility.

My Beloved Other by Nick Abadzis and Angela Watson will be published on 8th August 2026 by First Second Books | ISBN: 9781596433700 | US Preorder Links here | AmazonUK Affiliate Link

23rd Street Books, a haven for creators, readers, librarians, and booksellers who share a passion for the evolving landscape of graphic novels

23rd Street Books, a haven for creators, readers, librarians, and booksellers who share a passion for the evolving landscape of graphic novels, is First Second Books, a long-established home for extraordinary voices in graphic novels.

From the very beginning, First Second published for readers of all ages, including adults. But as their list grew and the readership for comics blossomed, especially in kids, middle grade, and YA, the team realised that something new was needed.

23rd Street Books, its name inspired by the publisher’s first home, New York’s iconic Flatiron Building, is a dedicated imprint for adult readers, growing from First Second but distinct in its mission. A place where powerful stories unfold – sometimes funny, sometimes serious, sometimes surreal – but always crafted with the highest ambition for the medium.

23rd Street Books - Upcoming Titles October 2026

Upcoming books include the first collection Of Swamp & Sea Volume 1, the hugely popular Webtoon series by Mia Jay Boulton and Laurel Boulton; the indie sci-fi epic Total THB, Volume 1, by Paul Pope, and Mrs. Orwell by Andrea Chalupa, illustrated by Brahm Revel, in which Eileen Blair, wife and partner of George Orwell, is brought out of her husband’s shadow, a graphic novel that follows the couples’ tireless campaign to expose difficult political truths through art.

Head downthetubes for…

Nick Abadzis Official Site | BlueSky | Instagram

Angela Watson

23rd Street Books | Facebook | Instagram | Threads | Reddit

My Beloved Other by Nick Abadzis and Angela Watson will be published on 8th August 2026 by First Second Books | ISBN: 9781596433700 | US Preorder Links here | AmazonUK Affiliate Link

Laika, Nick’s award winning graphic novel (AmazonUK Affiliate Link)

Nick Abadzis masterfully blends fiction and fact in the intertwined stories of three compelling lives. Along with Laika, there is Korolev, once a political prisoner, now a driven engineer at the top of the Soviet space program, and Yelena, the lab technician responsible for Laika’s health and life

Laika was adapted into a VR experience by Passion Entertainment in 2021


Categories: Comic Previews, Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, US Comics

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